The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-04-27
the buyers do not come.

the BUYERS do not come
The manner of making costume orig
mates very often in this country and is
carried over to the other side. The
enormous pattern business employs q
great number of expert dressmakers-de-
signers, both men and women and models
of all sizes and ages The designer
watches eagerly for even the least bit of
new idea in bodices, drapery or skirts
she sees where an improvement can be
made or a more individual effect pro-
duced. This is wrought out then either
in paper or muslin, and the dressmakers
develop 1t in cotton cloth with the same
precision as if they were making gown
to be worn. 1t is fitted on the model /;
then, by women who understand the work,
1t is cut apart, marked and notehed for
seams, darts and hens; sent, with its de-
scription, to the factory and is next seen
in the form of the paper pattern, folded
compactly and graded to suit the differ
ent-sized women. Letters come in ask
ing for special styles-if 1t Is believed that
they are good, care Is taken to bring them
out, but wild, unregenerated suggestions
are seldom given anything more than a
merry laugh over the folly that suggested
them. These designs all go to Europe,
specially to England, where q similar
work is carried on, but it is curious fact
that even in London the American styles
are most popular, They are less Apt to
be bulky and ungraceful, and more apt to
give the English girl the air she longs for
when she says: ''You Americans all wear
your clothes so we'll"
Not only in designs for making ma
terials do we vie with our cousins on the
other side, but in fabrics we are trying to
do our best to equal them. The greatest
success has been in silks, but it must be
acknowledged that the English in cloths
and the French in silks, brocades, velvet,
plushes and soft woods far surpass us.
The question of how he knew what to
buy was asked the foreign representative
of the largest and finest establishment in
New York. He said: II am governed
by what has been, and that is the law of
the manufacturer. If for several seasons
fancy suitings have been worn-as is the
case just now-I know there will be a
reaction; so gradually l buy fewer and
fewer of the fancy stuffs and more of
the plain colors This season will see
many bizarre designs, but the really
fashionable woman chooses a costume
that consists of one shade all through,
though she will indulge in the luxury of
EicA-Golored elegant sii'#-'f. -Nas''' ''''''' :.
Then to the next, which was "Who
starts the fashion," he said: "Nobody
knows. It may be an actress at the Com
edie Franchise; 1t may be leader of the
demi-monde, or II may be a grande dame.
However, there is no iron law-La Mode
is abreast with the times and realizes that
women are insensibly more liberal in
their ideas and each wishes to look her
best quite irrespective of set rule.
Sometimes national happiness or sor-
row makes a color, or a decoration the
vogue; undoubtedly the use of gold en-
broidery and cord can be traced to the
unfortunate Prince of Bulgaria and the
hero that he is in the eyes of women.
But after all no one absolutely makes the
fashions and no one is powerful enough
to say this shall or shall not be worn.
Probably more than any other women
Sarah Bernhardt and Mrs. Langtry have
made the world adopt what they wore
the one by her absolute fascination, the
other by the force of her exquisite beauty.
At her first visit to this country Bernhardt
wore q long, loose wrap enveloping her
figure and poke bonnet tied under her
chin. In less than week half the women
in New York were gotten up in the same
way. She made the mousquetaire glove,
which suited her slender wrist, and she
also taught women to wear flowers high
up against the throat, bringing out in this
way the whiteness and shapeliness of the
ear. Now, since she has become Fedora,
the loose front is most chic for tea
gown or matinee, and from the night that
she fascinated and made living the beau
tiful Theodore girdles of silver and
strings of gold beads have gained cachet.
In dressing Madame Bernhardt never
makes mistakes and never is common
place.
Mrs Langtry is to be complimented
upon her good dressing, which is de-
cidedly of the drawing-room, though
what she will be in cleopatra" which
she plays next autumn, can only be
guessed. The silver-like gray plushes, the
soft framboise, the deep heliotropes and
the whitest of white toilets are approved
by the English beauty. She has the good
taste to prefer wool costumes, sometimes
combined with plush or silk, but ofteneI
made of the one fabric. The wrap will
then be of plush, trimmed with magnif.
cent fur and lining that, contrasting in
color, makes of her entire toilet an arts
tic study. Mrs. Langtry understands the
art of dressing, and makes her toilets
subservient to her beauty, though in har-
mony with it. Off the stage, In the house
or on the street, she is always well, hand
somely and suitably gowned The ar
rangement of her beautiful hair In knot
low on the neck, was very generally
adopted by all the world few years ago
Just now she wears the golden-browr
tresses either in Catogan plat or else
raised far on her head. BY her assump-
ton of mans Jersey on board yacht
Mrs. Langtry created the fancy for those
sometime attractive but very often care
less-looking bodices.
Ellen Terry is so plainly costumed and
SO outre In her appearance off the stage
that she has never been regarded as q
leader of fashions, though her queer felt
hat, loosely eurled, tangled mop Of haiI
and loose bodices were Of course initiated
by the advanced school of aesthetics
However, as Mrs. Oscar Wilde is now
said to wear corsets, the day of gowns
that were ill-ftting, ugly and decidedly
suggestive OF night dresses may be
counted as over.
A funny story Is told of New York
woman who was having gown made at
tailors in London, and serves to illus
strate the difference in English as she is
spoke" The American said to the tailor
IF you keep me much longer it will be
fall before get my body" The tailor
answered, II beg to assure you, madam
that you will not be detained until a,i.
tumn for your bodice" The American
said she felt corrected and was sure he
charged her for her ignorance in making
up her bill.
Some of the fashions of to-day are I'M
accounted for. Who has set afioat this
sudden desire for all-black underwear
Who has decreed that chemises shall not
be worm In the reign of Charles vi
Of France they were esteemed such lux
uries that gowns were opened at the hips
and the under-garment drawn through to
show that it extended below the waist
! This is said to be the day of little